Analyst rumor: Adobe to launch Creative Suite 3 in May

Adobe Systems is likely to launch its much-awaited Creative Suite 3.0 software bundle in May of 2007, one analyst says.

In a report on Investor.com, Global Crown Capital analyst Martin Pyykkonen said his research points in the direction of a May 1, 2007 release.

The analyst noted that executives for the San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe have been guiding analysts lower in their financial targets prior to that date —suggesting a release before then would be unlikely.

Creative Suite 3.0, code-named "Red Pill," is one of the most highly anticipated releases for Apple's Mac community in recent years, as it will be the first version of the software bundle —which includes essentials such as Photoshop and Illustrator —to run natively on the company's new line of Intel Macs.

The new bundle will also mark the integration of Macromedia technologies that were recently acquired by Adobe, including Flash, for delivering multimedia content online, and Dreamweaver, for interactive Web design.

According to Jefferies & Co. analyst Ross MacMillan, who was also quoted in the Investor.com report, only about 20 percent of Adobe's total revenue comes from the Macintosh platform. He said the rest comes from software for Microsoft's Windows operating system. However, MacMillan noted that the Mac may account for 40 percent of Adobe's creative solution segment.

Leading up to September, Adobe's creative solution business unit accounted for 56 percent of total sales, while its knowledge worker solution unit, which includes Acrobat, was the second largest contributor, making up 26 percent of sales.